by Pam Crooks
What everyone here knew they’d done.
Harvey’s information would have to wait. Drawn to her like wind to the willows, TJ rose. She entered the dining room, gut-wrenchingly beautiful in a ruffled summer dress the color of buttercups. In her haste, she hadn’t pulled up her hair, and the thick tresses flowed over her shoulders like cinnamon-shaded satin.
All that beautiful hair hanging loose gave her a slumberous look. Reminded him of how her mane had trailed over his pillow, along his arms, wound around his fist…
Their glances met for one soul-stirring second, but it was enough for him to see how much being here cost her. What she’d sacrificed by giving herself to him, forsaking Kullen as the man she claimed to love. That she believed her parents and Woollie and soon most everyone else would disdain her for betraying him.
TJ ached to reassure her he’d do what he could to save her from disgrace. Harvey’s news could likely change her perspective on matters, but too soon, their glance ended. She flashed a bright smile and shifted her attention to her parents.
“Mother! Penn! I didn’t expect you home so early.” Striding past TJ, she embraced Carina, turned and planted a kiss on her stepfather’s cheek. “Is everything all right?”
“We took the first train home as soon as we heard about what happened at Preston Farm,” Carina said and dragged a quick maternal inspection over her daughter.
“Woollie told me he wired you.” Callie Mae frowned at her ranch foreman. “I scolded him for it, too. I’m sure he scared you both to death. As you can see, I’m fine.”
“He didn’t know you were, and neither did we, until much later,” Penn said. “Any parent who finds out someone put a gun to their daughter’s head is entitled to get spooked.”
Faces swiveled toward TJ, and he heaved a breath of regret. His methods that day were sure to haunt him for a good long while.
“It seemed the right thing to do at the time,” he admitted. “But I was all blow. I never would’ve pulled the trigger. I swear.”
“I should hope not,” Callie Mae said in quick retort. She moved toward the remaining empty chair next to TJ, but seeing the government agent, she halted in surprise. “Harvey!”
He stood, reached across the table and took her hand with a warm smile. “Good morning, Callie Mae. Yes, my arrival is most unexpected for everyone. I’m glad you’re here.”
“Forgive me for not noticing you sooner,” she said.
TJ pulled out the chair and met her questioning glance. She eased into her seat, smoothing her skirt around her.
“Harvey has some news for us,” TJ said.
“I suspected as much.” Her attention slid warily back to the agent, seating himself once again.
TJ filled her cup with steaming coffee. Flapjacks smothered in strawberry jam had long been her favorite, and he slid both toward her and sat.
She unfolded a napkin over her lap; under the drape of the tablecloth, she patted his thigh in quiet thanks.
The simple gesture warmed him. It felt right to be sitting next to her like this. As if he was truly a part of her family. Sharing her life. Her troubles. Or something as ordinary as breakfast in the morning.
But Carina leaned forward and scattered his thoughts.
“We’re all together now, Harvey,” she said in her commanding she-boss voice. “Start from the beginning.”
After he finished, thick silence hung over the table.
Callie Mae couldn’t move, let alone think. She couldn’t much feel, either, except excruciating hurt from what Kullen had done. The scheme he had made.
He’d duped them all. But she, of everyone, should have known.
Harvey’s investigation uncovered that Kullen’s real name was Brockway. Not Brosius. That his father had been a partner in the illicit counterfeit ring with her own father all those years ago. That Emmett Ralston was his cousin—and that the two of them were likely hell-bent on revenge against Penn by using Callie Mae.
And TJ.
Oh, he’d been an easy mark for Kullen. By protecting Maggie, TJ fell into Kullen’s net like an apple from a tree.
TJ admitted, then, what he’d done for his mother. And why. The time was right, with all of them gathered at the table, to unlock the secret he held tight inside him. To at last reveal how his mother tried to save Danny from the stranger determined to kidnap him.
Callie Mae’s parents succumbed to emotion they didn’t often show, a draining mix of heartbreak and gratitude and regret. The tearful knowledge of how, in spite of the risks TJ’s mother had taken, their beloved son still paid the highest price of all.
His life.
An innocent child.
Callie Mae could barely fathom how Kullen had been lying to her from the first day she met him. Had he ever loved her? Even for a moment?
He’d lied to Grandmother, too, who trusted him implicitly with her private financial affairs. He’d tricked her with a law degree which was nothing more than a sham on paper to smooth-talk his way into her money and her life.
Lies, lies, lies.
The hurt burned deeper inside Callie Mae. Could she have been more gullible? More stupid?
Finally, Harvey gathered up his reports with a heavy sigh. “As difficult as this has been, we mustn’t forget Kullen and Emmett are still out there somewhere. We have to assume Kullen may try to contact Callie Mae.”
“I’ll see him dead first,” Penn snarled.
“He’s spent most of his life planning revenge against you, and he’ll not walk away easily,” Harvey warned.
“Then we’ll make sure he doesn’t walk away at all.” TJ’s expression was as cold, as hard, as Penn’s.
Hearing their talk of vengeance, something inside Callie Mae snapped. She stood abruptly, teetering her chair back on its hind legs. “That’s enough. Hasn’t there been enough killing already?”
“You can’t make what happened go away without a fight.” But TJ reached for her to soften the harshness of his words.
She evaded him and strode toward the stairs. Not even his arms could soothe the turmoil inside her, this letting go of the man she thought she loved while knowing she had to accept he couldn’t have loved her. Not for a single moment.
“Callie Mae, wait!”
At her mother’s firm voice, she stiffly obeyed, but she refused to turn around and see the pity on everyone’s faces.
“You know what must be done, Penn,” Carina said firmly. “Take the others and go.”
“Stay in the house, Carina. Both of you.” Penn issued the order. Chairs scraped the floor.
“Go with them, TJ,” Carina said.
Callie Mae didn’t have to turn around to sense TJ’s hesitation. She could feel his reluctance to leave as strongly as if he’d spoken it.
“I’ll talk to you soon, Callie Mae,” TJ said roughly. “Y’hear?”
She didn’t respond. She was afraid to. The threat of tears was too strong…
“Go, TJ,” her mother said, more gently this time. “She’ll be fine.”
After a moment, boots strode across the floor, the back door slammed, and the room fell quiet.
Her mother’s tread drew nearer, then halted, right behind her. “No matter what happens, Callie Mae, there’s one thing you mustn’t forget.”
Callie Mae finally turned. She’d heard it often enough throughout her life to know what her mother meant. “I’m a Lockett.”
“Isn’t that worth fighting for?”
“Of course, it is.” Suddenly, each of her failures darted through her mind like stinging bees. Her disappointing meeting with the entrepreneurs. Tres Pinos Valley. Kullen. “But I’m a poor excuse for a Lockett, aren’t I?”
Her mother cocked her head in puzzlement. “Why would you say that?”
“I made a terrible mistake in my choice of husband, and that’s just for starters.”
“Callie Mae.” Her mouth curved. “Have you forgotten I thought your father would make a fine husband, too? And look where that got me.
” Reaching out, she caressed Callie Mae’s cheek. “But he gave me you. My greatest treasure. And I have Penn now, so Rogan doesn’t matter anymore, does he?”
Callie Mae allowed her mother’s wisdom to wrap around her. “No.”
“Some day, Kullen won’t matter, either. In fact, I’d warrant he no longer does.”
She heaved a bemused sigh. “No.”
“TJ bedded you, didn’t he?” Carina asked.
Callie Mae kicked up her chin. “Yes.”
“If you truly loved Kullen, you never would’ve given TJ the privilege.”
“Of course not.”
“We can’t let Kullen win.” The avowal darkened Carina’s features. “He took Danny away from us. I’ll never forgive him for that. Penn and I have to make very sure Kullen and Emmett won’t take the next child from us, either.”
The next child?
Callie Mae’s mind played with the words.
“I’m going to have another baby, sweet. In the spring.” Oddly, Carina hesitated and rested a hand on her belly. “Well, two, actually.”
Callie Mae blinked. “Twins?”
Eyes brightening, Carina’s fingers flew to her lips; she nodded vigorously.
Callie Mae shrieked. Her arms opened, and her mother fell into them, both of them laughing and crying, and blissfully unaware… that the third step had creaked.
Chapter Eighteen
“Shut off the spigot to your water works, girlies, and turn around. Real easy-like.”
Callie Mae spun out of her mother’s embrace with a gasp. Recognition of the dark, bearded face hit hard. “Oh, my God!”
Carina stepped around her. She appeared fearless standing on the wrong end of a Smith & Wesson revolver. “Get out of my house, damn you.”
“Mother. It’s—”
“Emmett Ralston. I know.”
Another time, Callie Mae might have marveled at her mother’s intuitiveness and her calm in a bad situation. But with Callie Mae’s nerves tangled like rattlesnakes, she could only comprehend that they were alone. Unarmed. And if Emmett was here, Kullen had to be close by.
“I don’t have a lot of time, so I’m only goin’ to say this once.” Emmett took a step inside the dining room, then another. Impatience shimmered off him, like heat off a hot skillet. “Miss Lockett, you’re comin’ with me. Your old lady here, she can either let you go, or I’ll have to smoke her up. Don’t matter to me either way.”
“She’s not going anywhere with you,” Carina spat.
His lip curled. “You’re not givin’ the orders around here.”
“The hell I’m not.” Like a proud and powerful lioness protecting her cub, she grasped Callie Mae’s elbow and yanked her behind her. Her stance left no question she was ready to fight for what was hers. “Get out and leave us alone.”
“Haven’t you done enough already, Emmett?” Callie Mae demanded, stubbornly whipping back up to her mother’s side. “Do you really think we’ll let you go on hurting us?”
“Shut up!” Emmett snarled.
“We can handle him, don’t you think, Mother?” she asked, watching him close. “Two against one.”
“You forget who’s got the shootin’ iron around here?” Emmett demanded.
The man looked like a volcano ready to explode, but his stature leaned toward the small side. Her plan would be risky, but if they moved fast, combined their strengths—
“Now!” Callie Mae yelled.
Carina leapt forward and threw herself against Emmett’s right arm to knock loose the weapon he wielded—but he was a split-second faster and lifted his arm before she could. With a speed neither of them predicted, he hurled his fist downward and, with the butt of his revolver, coldcocked her against the side of the head; then, he twisted and shoved Callie Mae away. She hit the wall with a force that rattled every bone in her body.
Carina cried out from his blow and hurtled backward against the table. Dishes clattered to the floor. A chair toppled. She dropped with a moan, landed in a crumpled heap and fell silent.
“Mama!” Callie Mae screamed and knelt beside her.
“I ain’t never shot a woman before, but she’ll be the first. I swear!” Emmett yelled, his pistol unsteady but dead-aimed at Carina’s heart.
Blood oozed from an ugly gash on her head, but she was still breathing. She’d survive.
This violence against her and the tiny innocent lives inside her womb, the guilt and treachery which bombarded the Lockett legacy—Callie Mae had had enough.
Resolve pushed back fear and cleared her mind. Infused her with a boldness yet to be tested.
Until now.
She stood. Faced Emmett. Her fists doubled to contain the hatred seething through her veins. “It’s me he wants. If you hurt my mother again, I swear I’ll kill you.”
Emmett slowly lowered the revolver. “Yeah, he wants you all right. Damned if you’re worth the trouble.”
Twelve long months of lies and deception. Of grief and pain and shaken hope. Callie Mae was determined to end all of it.
“Take me to him,” she snapped.
Emmett’s eye narrowed, as if suspicious she’d leave Carina behind so easily. “No tricks, or I’ll be the one doin’ the killing. You got that?”
“Where is he?”
“He’s around.”
Of course he was. With his lameness, he’d use Emmett for his dirty work.
Most likely, he was on the ranch somewhere close, hiding in shadows like a coward. Places no one would think to search.
Her resolve building, she headed toward the front door, but a rough hand tangled in her hair and stopped her with a jerk. Razor-sharp tingles shot through her scalp.
“Not so fast, girlie. You think I’m stupid?” Emmett snarled in her ear. He pushed the nose of his weapon into her spine. “This place is crawlin’ with cowboys. We’re goin’ out the back way.” He yanked her in front of him, keeping her head tilted at an awkward angle, and pushed her toward the door.
Callie Mae managed to steal a sidelong glance at her mother, still unmoving, still breathing. Her heart ached from leaving her.
But she was powerless to do anything else. She would avenge Danny and make Kullen pay for what he’d done.
Or die trying.
“Did you hear that?” TJ angled his head and waited for the sound to repeat.
“Hear what?” Penn cupped his hand around the match flame, lit his cigarette, then shook the flame out.
“Not sure.”
“I didn’t hear anything, either.” Woollie took a drag off his own stogie, but he ran a searching glance around the front yard.
“What did it sound like?” Harvey asked.
TJ didn’t respond. He couldn’t put his finger on it. A vague noise. From the direction of the house.
He listened again. Hard. He turned, studied the lace curtains hanging from the tall dining room window. No movement showed through. His gaze slid to the front door. Nothing unusual there, either.
But he’d heard something. What kind of noise would Callie Mae and her mother make while eating breakfast—loud enough to be heard from the outside?
Like a noxious weed, alarm took root and spread. Instinct told him a noise like that wouldn’t have happened unless there was trouble. Might be he was overreacting, but already his feet had started moving, and he broke into a sprint toward the house. Took the porch stairs two at a time. Footfalls behind revealed the others picked up on his worry and ran with him.
TJ shoved open the door. “Callie Mae!”
Even before he entered the dining room, he could see the broken dishes scattered over the carpet. Icy fingers of dread clawed through his chest.
“Carina!” Penn choked an oath and hurled the fallen chair aside to get to her. Dropping to a knee, he gently slid an arm beneath her shoulders; she grimaced and moaned, and he kissed her forehead. “Carina, honey.”
“Is she all right?” TJ asked roughly, kneeling, too.
“I think so.” Penn smoothed
away her hair, examined the cut on her head. And swore again.
“Callie Mae’s gone.” TJ stood, the dread slamming through him. “Damn it, he took her.”
“Emmett?” Harvey asked.
“It had to be.” Kullen couldn’t have done it himself—not with his bum leg.
Penn’s grim gaze shot to TJ’s. “The rifles are in the office.”
He didn’t have to say more, but TJ accepted the reins of command. He turned and headed toward the room where he’d sat in the deep, over-stuffed leather chairs more times than he could remember, discussing C Bar C matters, smoking cigars, drinking whiskey. A lifetime ago.
Mounted longhorns worn by Happy Sam, one of the best steers ever to lead a C Bar C herd on the trail north, hung on the wall above the desk. In the adjoining corner, the mahogany gun cabinet took prominence. TJ opened the glass door and removed a pair of Winchester rifles, one in each hand. He tossed the first to Woollie.
“I’ll come along, if you’ll have me,” Harvey offered. The words were no sooner spoken when he had to reach to catch the second.
Boxes of cartridges followed.
“May as well take all them shootin’ sticks,” Woollie said, loading fast. “We’ll have to bring the whole damn outfit with us to find her.”
They emptied the cabinet, and with Penn to see to Carina, they left. Outside, on their way to the corral for horses, Jesse Keller, carrying a pitchfork, rounded the corner of the barn.
Seeing their artillery, he halted. “What’s going on?”
“We got trouble. Mount up,” TJ ordered.
Without question, the cowboy followed. Along the way, TJ added Orlin Fahey and Billy Aspen to the group. His terse explanation of what happened had them all saddling mounts with grim expressions on their faces.
TJ swung onto his horse and speared a sharp glance at Jesse. “How the hell did Emmett get into the house anyway?”
“Damned if I know.” He shoved his rifle into the scabbard. “Maybe the same way you did.”
The possibility stunned him.
Through Callie Mae’s window?
TJ urged his horse toward the barn’s door, dipped his head beneath the frame and once out, lifted his glance to the old oak tree growing high alongside the house. Jesse rode up next to him.